UFC 279 LIVE: Diaz vs Ferguson and Chimaev vs Holland fight results tonight

Re-live updates from a drastically-reworked fight card at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena

Diaz to face Ferguson at UFC 279; Chimaev embraces boos at weigh-in

Nate Diaz exited the UFC with a submission victory on Saturday, beating fellow fan favourite Tony Ferguson in the final fight of his UFC contract.

Diaz had been scheduled to take on the UFC’s fastest-rising star, Khamzat Chimaev, in the main event of UFC 279, but Chimaev weighed in seven-and-a-half pounds over the welterweight limit, causing the card to be drastically reworked. American Diaz ultimately took on compatriot Ferguson, who was originally due to face Li Jingliang. The Chinaman instead fought Daniel Rodriguez, whose original opponent Kevin Holland went up against Chimaev.

Diaz and Chimaev both emerged as submission winners from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with 37-year-old Diaz forcing Ferguson, 38, to tap out to a guillotine choke in the fourth round, after Chimaev had submitted Holland with a D’Arce choke in the co-main event. “I outdid everybody on pay, I outdid everybody on surviving,” Diaz reflected on his UFC career in his post-fight interview. “I wanna get out [of] the UFC for a minute and show all these other fighters how to own up another sport. Then I’m gonna be right back here to get a motherf*****g UFC title.” Re-live updates from UFC 279 below.

UFC 279 LIVE

• Fans at T-Mobile Arena boo tribute to the Queen following her death this week
• Nate Diaz def. Ferguson via fourth-round submission (guillotine choke, 2:52)
• Chimaev def. Holland via first-round submission (D’Arce choke, 2:13)
• Rodriguez def. Li via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Aldana def. Chiasson via third-round TKO (up-kick, 2:21)
• Walker def. Cutelaba via first-round submission (rear-naked choke, 4:37)

[10 September 2022 23:55 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 279 LIVE

Here is a look at the odds for tonight’s final three fights, all of which feature the six men who were originally supposed to be involved – just not against the opponents that they are now facing!

Diaz – 1/1; Ferguson – 4/5

Chimaev – 1/5; Holland – 7/2

Li – 6/5; Rodriguez – 4/6

Via Betway.

[10 September 2022 23:40 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 279 LIVE

The UFC 279 early prelims are under way as we speak!

We’ll be providing a round-up of those results a little later on, before we cover the remaining prelim bouts and the main card in depth with round-by-round updates.

[10 September 2022 23:25 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 279 LIVE

While there has naturally been a lot of negativity towards Chimaev this week, here’s a recap of his last fight – a barnburner against Gilbert Burns in April:

[10 September 2022 23:09 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 279 LIVE

Following a series of late changes, here is the final card for UFC 279:

Main card

Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson (welterweight)

Khamzat Chimaev vs Kevin Holland (catchweight)

Li Jingliang vs Daniel Rodriguez (catchweight)

Irene Aldana vs Macy Chiasson (catchweight)

Johnny Walker vs Ion Cutelaba (light heavyweight)

Prelims

Hakeem Dawodu vs Julian Erosa (featherweight)

Jailton Almeida vs Anton Turkalj (catchweight)

Denis Tiuliulin vs Jamie Pickett (middleweight)

Jake Collier vs Chris Barnett (heavyweight)

Early prelims

Norma Dumont vs Danyelle Wolf (women’s featherweight)

Chad Anheliger vs Alatengheili (bantamweight)

Melissa Martinez vs Elise Reed (women’s strawweight)

Darian Weeks vs Yohan Yailesse (welterweight)

[10 September 2022 22:59 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 279 LIVE

Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson will meet in the main event of UFC 279 tonight, after Khamzat Chimaev’s failed weight-cut caused a major shake-up to the card at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Icon Diaz, entering the final fight of his UFC contract, was set to face the fastest-rising star in the company in Chimaev, but the Russian-born Swede capped off a week to forget by missing weight. The unbeaten Chimaev, 28, had already confronted middleweight Paulo Costa at the UFC Performance Institute on Monday and caused a series of backstage incidents on Thursday by kicking Kevin Holland, the latter moment seeing the pre-fight press conference abandoned.

Now, fan favourite Ferguson will fight fellow veteran Diaz in a five-round, welterweight main event, while Chimaev takes on Holland in a catchweight bout. Meanwhile, Ferguson and Holland’s original opponents – Li Jingliang and Daniel Rodriguez – also meet in a catchweight contest. Fans have long wished to see Americans Diaz, 37, and Ferguson, 38, go head to head, and they will finally get their chance this evening before Diaz rides off into the sunset. Meanwhile, Chimaev’s remarkable rise up the welterweight rankings has hit its first real roadblock, with his future in the division now at least somewhat unclear.